I paired this beer with: Grilled salmon with quinoa cooked with this Island Creek Oyster Stout mushrooms and onions

Tasted on: Monday January 23, 2012

Notes:

The beer poured a dark brown with a 2 finger light brown head.

The nose was full of chocolate, coffee, smoke and vanilla.

The taste started off slightly sweet with chocolate, then the sweetness tailed off when the roasted coffee notes kicked in to balance it out and finished with a dry bitterness.

The body was of a smooth and creamy with a medium full body.

The drinkability was very good.

On the Label: Session 30

This smooth stout is brewed with freshly harvested Island Creek Oysters. The roasted notes of the stout blend beautifully with the mineral flavors of the oysters. Limited Edition- Small Batch.

From their website:

The 100 Barrel Series celebrates the brewing talents and creativity of Harpoon Brewers. From experimental styles to interpretations of old favorites, 100 Barrel Series beer is a limited batch and a personal expression of the art of brewing. Every couple of months a different Harpoon brewer will spend a few late nights in the brewery, brewing test batches on the pilot system. This leads to the final recipe and, of course, a special, unique beer. You will find that brewer’s signature on each bottle of beer from their batch. So if you like the beer, you’ll know who to thank.

ABOUT ISLAND CREEK OYSTER STOUT

Brew Date: 1/21/10

Packaging Date: 2/5/10

The idea for the Harpoon 100 Barrel Series Island Creek Oyster Stout came after years of enjoying locally harvested oysters over freshly brewed pints of beer with our friends from Island Creek. Stouts have long been paired with oysters, though seldom brewed with them. This is our take on the age-old tradition.

Brewed by Harpoon brewer Katie Tame, using Island Creek oyster farmer Skip Bennett’s revered Duxbury Bay oysters, this beer has a rich body and smooth mouthfeel derived in part from a combination of roasted barley and chocolate rye malts. The roasted malt notes blend beautifully with the briny, mineral flavors of the Island Creek oysters. An addition of hops adds some bitterness to balance the malt sweetness. This, the 30th installment of the Harpoon 100 Barrel Series, is best enjoyed with a plate full of Island Creek Oysters.

We hope beer and oyster lovers have as much fun drinking it as we had brewing it.